Roads are Not for Parking Nor Pedistrians

The City of Toronto is considering restricting traffic on one of its most important north-south roads, Jarvis Street, to make more room for cyclists and pedestrians.

The project, which is estimated at $6.5 million and will take a year to complete (as we well know, it will cost $19 million and take 4 years), is clothed in irony. You see, the additional space on Jarvis already exists. It is filled with parked vehicles, cars making left hand turns where no left hand turn lane exists and double parked delivery vehicles. The pedestrian space also exists. It is called a sidewalk, but admittedly it is difficult to navigate, full as it is of sign boards, parking meters and gigantic recycling bins.

So it should be obvious that, to solve the problem, just get rid of the parked vehicles and prohibit left hand turns and then we have the space for cyclists. And remove the signboards and the parking meters and we have room for the pedestrians. It will cost $300 and take one day.

However, there is another agenda at play. If there is no parking, then there are no parking meters and no parking tolls for the city. There are also no parking tickets. That means fewer people working for the Toronto Parking Authority and fewer meter readers. If there are no signboards, then there are fewer people working for the city department that regulates such things. If there is no grand project to rework the street, the politicians have nothing to hang their hat on at election time. The planners have nothing to plan.

Roads are for the movement of vehicles including bicycles, not for storing same. Sidewalks, by their very name, run beside roads and are used for walking. Seems so simple doesn't it.